More team-focused APPs

[biostem]

So not too long ago was the 1st time I got a Sentinel to 50.  On the way, I looked at the various APPs/PPPs available to them, and was pleasantly surprised to see that fire and electricity offered team heals.  While obviously not as good as those that dedicated support classes get, I found it to be a nice option for those that wanted to also aid their teammates.  I'd love to see this idea expanded to other ATs.

 

For instance:

 

Tanker - Voltaic Mastery

35 Electric Fence

35 Tesla Cage

41 Lightning Bolt

41 Rejuvenating Circuit

44 Jolting Chain

 

Note that the exact damage, recharge, end cost, etc, would all have to be adjusted to be in line with AT modifiers and such...

[PeregrineFalcon]

Uh, oh. Now you've done it.

 

Prepare to be mobbed by the "all ATs and all powers should be useful while soloing" crowd.

 

I agree though. It'd be nice to have more options to help your teammates.

[Bill Z Bubba]

22 minutes ago, PeregrineFalcon said:

Prepare to be mobbed by the "all ATs and all powers should be useful while soloing" crowd.

 

Well, yea, why do you think we want regen buffed?

 

/badumpdumptish

 

I see nothing against adding more APP/EPP sets but can we please correct the obviously broken before we do so?

Edited May 6, 2022 by Bill Z Bubba

[PeregrineFalcon]

3 minutes ago, Bill Z Bubba said:

I see nothing against adding more APP/EPP sets but can we please correct the obviously broken before we do so?

Oh, I agree. Assault Rifle and Mercenaries definitely should be fixed well before any improvements to Regen or the Epic Pools.

 

😁

[Bill Z Bubba]

14 minutes ago, PeregrineFalcon said:

Oh, I agree. Assault Rifle and Mercenaries definitely should be fixed well before any improvements to Regen or the Epic Pools.

 

😁

 

I hate masterminds. But I have a couple AR users so I should have a Mercs MM. It'll still be better than Regen.

 

Edit: Nah, I can't do it. Even as a joke. I hate masterminds that much.

Edited May 7, 2022 by Bill Z Bubba

[Rudra]

*cringes at rejuvenating circuit*

 

34 minutes ago, PeregrineFalcon said:

Uh, oh. Now you've done it.

 

Prepare to be mobbed by the "all ATs and all powers should be useful while soloing" crowd.

I resemble that remark!

 

I honestly don't care if more team-friendly powers are added. As long as they are not team-only. THAT annoys me. Not having team focused powers as an option, but the 'this set is only for teams' feel some sets have. So, sure. More team friendly powers among the APP/PPP choices. Go for it.

[Ghost]

3 hours ago, PeregrineFalcon said:

Uh, oh. Now you've done it.

 

Prepare to be mobbed by the "all ATs and all powers should be useful while soloing" crowd.

 

I agree though. It'd be nice to have more options to help your teammates.

How dare he bring team based powers to a game that was originally team based!

The nerve!

[biostem]

3 hours ago, Rudra said:

I honestly don't care if more team-friendly powers are added. As long as they are not team-only. THAT annoys me. Not having team focused powers as an option, but the 'this set is only for teams' feel some sets have. So, sure. More team friendly powers among the APP/PPP choices. Go for it.

I'm curious what you define as a "team-only" power.  Do you mean something like heal other from empathy?  Can you give me an idea of an entire set that is team-only, or do you mean a set that has a significant proportion of its powers devoted to friendly targets, only?  I mean, if we take a defender, even if their entire primary set was only able to target other friendly entities, they'd still have their secondary and pool powers that they could use for their own benefit...

[Rudra]

By team-only, I mean powers that can only be used on allies. Mainly Thermal Radiation where only 4 of the 9 powers can be used away from teams. It's why I never play a thermal or cold. I'm not saying they are bad sets. I'm not asking for them to be changed to be more solo friendly. Powers that boost or heal allies is a good thing. It just means it is a power set I will never have a reason to play.

 

So adding team-centric powers to existing APPs/PPPs? Sure. Great. Go for it. Making a new APP/PPP that is only team-centric? Feels like soloists are being given the finger. Make them have an equal choice for team-centric or solo-centric? That works just fine for me. Even if in that 5-power set, 3 are team-centric.

Edited May 7, 2022 by Rudra
Edited 5 to 9 for powers count.

[biostem]

1 hour ago, Rudra said:

Making a new APP/PPP that is only team-centric? Feels like soloists are being given the finger.

I'm just curious if you read the example set I gave, because only 1 of the powers is actually "team-centric", (while the others merely help your teammates by happenstance), and even then, said power can chain back to you.  Either way, what I'm asking for are more options, with an emphasis on stuff that helps your teammates, but not exclusively...

[Rudra]

I really need to cut some of my commentary out....

 

As far as your suggested pool goes, my only actual response was to cringe at rejuvenating circuit as an individual that hates being affected by that power. I am actually fine with your suggestion.

 

The rest of my comment was meant as expression of general feelings to sets so heavily geared towards ally use only powers. Which was in response to the 'all ATs and powers should be useful while solo' comment from @PeregrineFalcon. Which is why I made it as part of my 'I resemble that remark' bit, which was meant to be humorous, after the quote.

 

My next post was solely in response to the question put to me.

 

Apologies for any confusion.

 

Edit: And by hate I mean absolute, unreasoning, rip that power out or let me not accept it, levels of loathing. Sorry.

Edited May 7, 2022 by Rudra

[Ghost]

Sorry to derail things, but I am generally curious-

 

@Rudra

do you solo exclusively?  And if yes, why?  You’re very active on the forums, so you obviously enjoy some sort of interaction.

[Rudra]

No, I don't exclusively solo. Just mostly. There is a small group of friends I team with on Friday and Saturday if they are on, and a slightly larger group of friends I am willing to team with if they need a body for some reason. On exceedingly rare occasions, I team with someone I am asked to so I can help him/her/them build his/her/their base until I can teach the individual how to do so for themselves. (Since I'm relatively addicted to base building....) However, I spend well more than 80% of my time solo. Most of my in-game personal interactions are in the group chat channel.

 

As for the forums, I specifically avoided it for almost all my time playing. Never even visited it during Live. And only came to it when a GM moved a complaint about a mission problem to the Bugs section of the forums.

 

I have been spending a surprising amount of time on the forums since. Mainly to see what ideas people come up with. I like to read what people come up with. Whether a bio in-game, which is exceedingly rare these days unfortunately, to the ideas and debates in the forum.

 

(Edit: And being highly opinionated, finding myself unable to not respond to most posts in some fashion.)

Edited May 7, 2022 by Rudra

[arcane]

16 hours ago, PeregrineFalcon said:

Oh, I agree. Assault Rifle and Mercenaries definitely should be fixed well before any improvements to Regen or the Epic Pools.

 

😁

True in principle, but, just to play devil’s advocate here: if we take into account the value of volunteer developers’ limited time, is there a chance the Mastermind AT is just beyond saving?

[Ukase]

So, on the one hand, I've no issue with any changes you've suggested. 
My only adjustment would be that the buff be only for teammates, not the caster, and here's why: 
Those with large pockets that can and do kit out their characters can already run most content at +4/8 with little or no real hassle, unless they choose to make things harder. Providing a buff or heal to a tank or brute, above and beyond their armor just gives someone like me even less reason to team up. As I said, I'm fine with it, but lately, there seems to be some pressure for folks to team up more often than not. By providing such a thing, it makes certain ATs even less reliant on support ATs. 

Now, it's possible I'm the only person thinking that way. Mama told me my way of seeing the world wasn't typical. 

[PeregrineFalcon]

2 hours ago, arcane said:

True in principle, but, just to play devil’s advocate here: if we take into account the value of volunteer developers’ limited time, is there a chance the Mastermind AT is just beyond saving?

With all due respect Arcane, you're out of your mind. There's nothing wrong with the Mastermind AT. Mercenaries need some buffs, the rest of the MM sets are doing just fine.

[arcane]

25 minutes ago, PeregrineFalcon said:

With all due respect Arcane, you're out of your mind. There's nothing wrong with the Mastermind AT. Mercenaries need some buffs, the rest of the MM sets are doing just fine.

I have three MM's. They survive and kill just fine at +4x8. But they still suck to play for longer than 20 minutes because they're Masterminds. 

 

Side note: best Mastermind primary is Illusion Control 😉

Edited May 7, 2022 by arcane

[PeregrineFalcon]

15 minutes ago, arcane said:

I have three MM's. They survive and kill just fine at +4x8. But they still suck to play for longer than 20 minutes because they're Masterminds.

That's not the MM AT, that's just your personal preference. Which is fine. I love my MMs.

 

15 minutes ago, arcane said:

Side note: best Mastermind primary is Illusion Control 😉

Yeah? I think I'll have to make one of those one of these days.

[srmalloy]

22 hours ago, PeregrineFalcon said:

Prepare to be mobbed by the "all ATs and all powers should be useful while soloing" crowd.

There are already enough powersets that have multiple "usable only on allies" powers for them to rail against; I don't see any particular problem with giving them more to whine about.

[Ukase]

At the risk of being confused for Snarky, I should probably remind everyone that the medicine pool is available to aid teammates with if you really wanted to do so. 

Talk about nostalgia...I used to actually get that on my blasters before I learned there were combat attributes and the different ATs had different Hitpoints and such. 

[biostem]

1 minute ago, Ukase said:

At the risk of being confused for Snarky, I should probably remind everyone that the medicine pool is available to aid teammates with if you really wanted to do so. 

 

1. It's not an APP.

2. It's not very good in combat.

3. There are multiple different blast, armor, control, and other such sets - why would be adding more APP options be a bad thing?

4. Try out the fire or elec Sentinel APP to see what I'm talking about - this establishes the precedent that something like a team heal *can* be in an APP.

[arcane]

38 minutes ago, biostem said:

 

2. It's not very good in combat.

 

 

 

Have you used it with Field Medic?

[biostem]

8 minutes ago, arcane said:

Have you used it with Field Medic?

Yes.  It's still a single-target heal with a short range.  Have you tried the fire or elec APPs for Sentinels?  They're much better.

Edited May 7, 2022 by biostem

[arcane]

2 hours ago, biostem said:

Yes.  It's still a single-target heal with a short range.  Have you tried the fire or elec APPs for Sentinels?  They're much better.

Sure. But I do think the “brutes/tanks don’t need any more mitigation” point from Ukase above is a very good point… if something like an AoE heal was added to a tank APP, I agree it shouldn’t affect the caster. Kind of like Ground Zero heal or Grant Cover defense buff.

Edited May 8, 2022 by arcane

[Ghost]

4 hours ago, Ukase said:

At the risk of being confused for Snarky, I should probably remind everyone that the medicine pool is available to aid teammates with if you really wanted to do so. 

Talk about nostalgia...I used to actually get that on my blasters before I learned there were combat attributes and the different ATs had different Hitpoints and such. 

Snarky, is that you?  You’ve lost weight!

Edited May 8, 2022 by Ghost